I just read this morning in USA today that the Gloucester Fishermans memorial got the vote. Although this pick was worthy choice as well I don't mind expressing my disappointment that the Guthrie Center didn't get selected. Sure would like to see the votes though to see if we were at least close. Sorry Arlo we did our best. -Eric

Hi Arlo.You look well. I am thinking of going to our old school's reunion this May. Would you recommend such a journey? My old best friend from high school, Brooke Minarik, passed away a few years back. Barrie class of 1965

Last edited by barrie on Thu Mar 12, 2009 1:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

The bailed out line is a weak joke. They seem to be bailing a lot of things out these days. There seem to be a lot of very rich people with their hands out. The music industry whines about the web and some of that is merited. The evangelicals increase in number and hit lists like this to tell people they are not doing it right (yes, I read the whole religion thread).

There isn't enough "we can do this" spirit. They expect Obama to save them or Jesus to come back and flay their enemies. There is just a whole lot of mean out there. ABC says organized religion is dieing and the comments section to the article at their web site is full of scary mean statements.

Then I find something like the Guthrie Center and Arlo's whole operation and I am awed. We've been having a long running discussion on the effects of the web on the music business, DRM, etc., with folks like T-Bone Burnett on Jon Taplin's blog. There are lots of ideas and I am certainly no newbie to the web being an old SGMLer and contributor to XML (a different life, really). Everyone is looking for the perfect business model but mostly they are looking for a way to keep what they have become acccustomed to money wise and lifestyle wise.

Then there is Arlo. He didn't let the web master him. He mastered the web. He uses all the reach it provides and focuses it on the lifestyle he can afford and uses that to help others understand. He set out on a path at thirteen and hoed to the end of the row. He is the righteous example of having values that he can both share and support. Religion of that kind never wanes because it is all inside him and all he does is keep it shining, being a light for others to find their own way.

Arlo isn't mean or at least, that isn't the image or the words. He doesn't seem to need to be and isn't that what religion is supposed to make possible? Tolerance. Compassion. Self-restaint (ekam sat. datta, damyatta, damyadham.)

So my advice to ABC is go see Arlo. This is the America that can be. This is a way to live as family and express it with kindness. The 60s drove many ideas good and bad to the forefront of American culture. Some people profited enormously but didn't live up to it. The West Coast culture became mean for all its taking and doesn't give back much. Somehow, Arlo didn't do that. Maybe it was his parents, maybe his friends, or maybe he was lucky, but somehow he stuck to his path.

It awes me. And it gives me an unreasonable joy to know we didn't lose all the good things we learned along the way. The Movement counted for something. The Music counts for something. We Count For Something. Something good.

I realize that reads like a horsecart full of sucking up. It isn't. "Songs to aging children come" and I am one at a time of life where a little light means a whole lot.

I propose dissolving the Treasury and replacing it with the DODRM, Department of Do Re Mi.......no more dollars, just Do Re Mi's, with Woody's face on the front and an engraving of Trinity Church on the other side, in the middle of the other side, away from everything else on the other side........

Len, Thanks for the wonderful explanation! I couldn't agree with you more! I believe when in comes to Arlo, his beautiful family, and those who truly understand and embrace the message and the "movement" spirituality is the better word/concept versus religion. Spirituality is inate whereas religion is manmade. Religion is for people who fear going to hell, spirituality is for people who have been there! In my dealings with Arlo, and his family, over the last 16+ years, mainly at the Guthrie Center, I have seen and sensed nothing but caring, openness, honesty, and unconditional love. The country and the world would be a much better place if more followed the example(s) of people like the Guthries, the Seegers, and Harry Chapin.

Yeah, it comes across in the videos. I think if he grasped what kind of effect he had on us when we were 13 or 14, he might fear taking out the garbage. I was here in Huntsville during the race for the moon and that was exciting, but on the other hand, Wallace was governor and it was a strange time to be here as one of the aborigines: white, poor, native and watching the world come to our door to tell us to take down the signs over the water fountains. Being a kid on the wrong side of history, I had to look afar for something better and most of the legends of the day were beating on us hard. Then there was Pete Seeger. He was standing up to the powers but he wasn't kicking us in the teeth for where we were born. Then there was Arlo. Arlo explained it, as I said, sort of Mad Magazine for the teen-age musicians. These people made a difference that made a difference. And it took.

It was ok growing up here because it was a little paradise, home, and I had music. It may be harder now with the neo-movement focused on the 60s but in some ways focused on all the bad bits, war, drugs and politics and leaving out the good bits, sex and music. At 55 staring down chemo, really not wanting to work the clubs, I needed some magic back. YouTube has a lot of that. Besides Arlo, there are wonderful videos of Judy Durham solo at the piano still singing as clear and strong as she did in the Seekers, still holding to her path.

My son says the kids want some of the magic, but who is going to show them the power of soft. They live in a world of paranoia and dreary and over-produced or under talented. It isn't all bad, but heck, have you seen The Watchmen? Geez... soft porn for the family. I'm not against skin; I'm against false advertising.

Yes, I miss the folk singers, the people who taught us to give a damm but not to swing a fist. I miss them like family. So thanks to you guys who keep up the forums and use the web for good instead of evil.

And ABC needs to talk to Arlo. This country needs an example of how to do it well, to have some values and stick with them. To let go of the Stuff that doesn't matter and hold on to what does. It ain't the money in front of you that makes you safe or happy. It's the money you spent that keeps up those who stand behind you and with you. It's that little church wherever it is full of people who want to be with you singing.

"Peace and love and all good things have a price, I know that's so, but I didn't know how bad I'd feel now it's my son's time to go."

This thread may have wandered from the original intent over the last 12-24 hours, but in the final analysis it shows that The Church is worth millions of quarters!May the Creator bountifully bless Arlo, his family, George - Guthrie Center director -, all the volunteers, the members, the benefactors, and all who carry the "dream" in their hearts and in their actions!!!

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